A Northern Bank employee has appeared in court with the robbery of £26.5 million from the bank's headquarters in Belfast last December.
CCTV footage showing Chris Ward leaving the Northern Bank with a bag of cash
Chris Ward (24), from Colinmill, Poleglass, west Belfast, denied the charge at Laganside Magistrates' Court.
He spoke only to confirm his name. However, in a statement that was read out in court, he accused the PSNI of bugging him at home and abroad in a bid to frame him.
A detective disclosed in court today that surveillance equipment had been used in the investigation.
Mr Ward was one of several staff members held hostage by the gang that carried out the raid in the centre of Belfast last December.
Soon after the raid Mr Ward gave a television interview in which he spoke of his ordeal. Gunmen took over his home and warned both he and his family would be killed if he did not co-operate, he said at the time.
Belfast Magistrates' Court was told that the case against him was based on four main areas: his actions on December 18th and 19th; his actions on December 20th, the day of the raid; his original account of what happened; and a works rota.
Detective Inspector Sean Wright, who insisted he could connect the accused with the crime, told the court that surveillance would have a direct impact on at least one of these areas.
Mr Ward's lengthy statement of denial when charged by detectives was read out in court. It said: "Police have bugged my house, a holiday in Spain, went through all my phone records, my bank accounts, hounded my friends, even going as far as Australia and have tortured my family in an attempt to frame me with the Northern Bank robbery.
"Police have failed in all of these counts, they have held me longer than the hostage takers who seized me last year. And indeed have held me in a police station for longer than anyone else in the history of the North of Ireland."
Mr Ward was remanded in custody to appear again by video link on January 4th.
A 35-year-old man arrested yesterday for questioning about the raid has been released without charge.
Building contractor Dominic McEvoy (23), of Kilcoo, Co Down, was the first man to be charged with the robbery last month. He was remanded in custody after also being accused of holding a bank supervisor and his wife hostage and possession of a gun or imitation firearm.
Two other men have also been charged in connection with the raid.